1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device for removing insulation and corrosion from electrical conductors, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a portable hand-held pneumatic tool for removing insulating materials from conductors such as those used in large electrical devices and of generally rectangular cross section.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In working with electrical equipment, it is frequently necessary to remove from a designated portion of current-carrying conductors insulating material, which may be either an applied insulation or an incidental form of insulation, such as corrosion, dirt, or residual adhesive from electrical tape. In certain operations, such as the manufacture or repair of the electrical equipment, removal of these forms of insulation is necessary to prevent interference with good electrical connections, and perhaps good mechanical connections, such as a weld.
From the earliest methods of manual abrasion, such as wire brushing, mechanical abrasion methods have been developed. However, these mechanical abrasion methods involved bringing the conductor to be stripped of insulating material to an established station, which frequently imposed a considerable burden. Accordingly, efforts have been made to devise a portable stripping tool which may be easily conveyed to a desired work area. Such attempts at providing a portable tool have employed unprotected, rapidly spinning abrasive wheels or brushes which are prone to unintentional contact with nearby objects. Among the hazards of such a structure are that the spinning wheel may injure the thing accidentally contacted, such as the operator's hand, and that the wheel may capture a particle and fling it in an unpredictable direction.
In addition to being hazardous, prior art tools require the operator to position the conductor either between two rotating abrasive wheels or between a rotating abrasive wheel and a rotatable positioning wheel. In either case, the conductor is not held in place by contact with a fixed element. The frictional force applied to the conductor by the abrasive wheel results in a force tending to dislocate the conductor from its intended position. If the operator does not possess sufficient dexterity or strength to prevent this movement, the conductor may be ejected from its working position, insulation may be removed from undesired areas, or, worse, part of the conductor itself may be worn away. Such a lack of controlled stripping pressure renders prior art portable stripping tools less useful than desired.
Other desirable features of a portable stripping tool, besides safety and a controlled pressure to prevent grabbing and uneven abrasion, include small size to reach areas of limited accessability, ease of hand operation in such limited accessability areas, motor control integrated with establishment of stripping pressure, and evenness of the stripping pressure. While some prior art devices have attempted to provide some of these features, there is no prior art tool that can provide all of these desired results.